2014 Promotional Calendar and Planning Guide

Creating a marketing and promotional plan allows you to put into action the vision that you have created for your bar, nightclub or restaurant. It aims to give you a practical plan that is easy to implement over the course of the year. This plan will provide focus and direction while also encouraging you to monitor your results in order to improve.

In order to keep that register ringing, now is the perfect time to compile and start implementing this crucial plan that will aid in the success of your business. And not to fret, we’ve assembled our 2014 Promotional Planning Guide, including a calendar of events and holidays and some expert advice on getting started.

With this guide and calendar in hand, along with continuous updates on Nightclub.com, you’ll be armed with ideas to attract crowds every day of the year! The more you plan, the easier and more successful your promotions will become.

Here we have provided some key elements for creating your marketing and promotions plan to help you get started.

Objective
What is the purpose of creating this marketing plan? Do you want to increase new customer traffic? Provide incentive programs for loyal customer? Build brand awareness through social media channels? Or, all of the above? It is best to clarify the main focus of the plan upfront.

Go Back
Did you create a marketing and promotions plan last year? If so, take the time to look back and objectively review the promotions that you executed. Analyze why successful promotions drove traffic to your business. Also evaluate what didn’t work so that you don’t make those same mistakes again. Sometimes a great idea fails because it was executed at the wrong time or promoted to the wrong audience.

Target Audience
Research shows that a carefully executed promotion plan directed at the appropriate audience significantly increases the effectiveness of the promotion. Identify the exact types of customers you want to frequent your establishment over the next year. It is impossible to market to everyone therefore this helps you to concentrate on specific groups that fit your theme and brand.

Budget
Budgeting is a key element in planning your marketing and promotions plan. Make sure that you know how much money you can allocate to your promotional strategies each month. This will determine how many promotions you can realistically implement based on the allocated portion of revenues that you put towards the plan. Promotional spend varies from venue to venue; therefore, you need to determine what works best for your budget. If you’re a new venue budget more than you think you need.

Strategy
Based on the previous steps and the information that you have gathered it’s now time to define the key elements of the marketing and promotions plan and the lead time needed in order to execute successfully. Without deadlines little will get done. Lay out the opportunities that you would like to take advantage of and what/when tasks need to be completed.

Tactics
Tactics include defining exactly what you are actually going to do for each promotion. Create a central theme and develop a message to support that theme. Get creative and fine tune the preliminary details of the promotions prior to implementation. Most people start at this step and then wonder why their promotions didn’t work.

Execute
A great promotion means nothing if you can’t execute, so make sure your staff is fully prepared and don’t spare any details. Designate someone from your staff to drive the promotion. Then provide them with a Promotional Execution Guide. Include the following:

Who — Who is doing what and by what date? Sponsorships, POS materials, drink development, running the contest (if there is one)/contest rules, media, staff, food, etc.

FAQ — Think of all of the things a customer or server may ask and make sure you have an answer. Can someone reserve a table? If so, who and how? Who handles reservations, and is there a special reservation list? Is there an employee incentive? How does it work? What are the prizes? Are there food specials? What are they? A FAQ list can be hung on the employee bulletin board or attached to paychecks to make sure everyone is aware of the event as well as when and how it works for staff and guests.

Make sure to check in with the appointed staff member in order to keep them on track and provide them with the proper support to ensure success.

Evaluate
Evaluation of the marketing and promotions plan should take place on an overall level at the end of the year and an individual promotions level. Did the promotions work? If so, great! But, what elements contributed to the success of these promotions that can be applied to the others? What if your master plan didn’t work? What can you learn from the promotion and make sure not to repeat.

Do Not
Do not fall prey to the latest trends or fads. Not all of them will compliment your brand or relate to your target audience. The most effective promotional plans are cohesive and well-planned.

Click on the icons for each month to see even more profitable promotional ideas.